You may want to pay a little bit more attention to your toothpaste and other beauty products. After you’ve showered or brushed your teeth, you might have had contact with a fair amount of microplastic, which are smaller forms of real, man-made plastic. Specifically, they are very small plastic beads and fragments are used as abrading mediums or simply as fillers in many cosmetics products (toothpaste, body wash, etc). Most of these particles are so small, that you can only see them with a microscope.

Although there is no peer-reviewed research that measures the effects microplastics in toothpaste have on human health, microbeads are approved by the FDA and are in many products you wouldn’t expect including toothpaste, chewing gum, and face wash.

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Many people are unclear what microbeads are, and the role of microbeads in various products is not supported by beauty and healthcare experts. Additionally, ecological and environmental controversy surrounding microbeads is emerging rapidly.